{mosimage}In the 16th century The tenth and longest servinf sultan of Ottoman Empire Suleyman – I was nicknamed The Lawgiver. Under his command the Ottoman Empire expanded its territorial gains to its maximum reaching into Africa and deep into Europe. After being crowned after the death of his father Suleyman started his military achievements by first crushing the revolt of the then Ottoman governor in Damascus.

From here he planned his conquests of Hungary as they were the only hurdles left in conquest of Europe after the fall of Balkans (Serbia, Bulgaria and Byzantine). He laid siege on Belgrade and pounded it with heavy bombs from a small island on Danube. With out any backup and little resources inside Belgrade soon fell. The neighboring nations feared the same fate at the hands of mighty Suleyman but he had other plans. He moved from there towards the Mediterranean and attacked the Rhode islands. This was one strateic move as it lay on path to the silk and spice trade routes to Asia minor. Over a period of six months or so, the tactful Suleyman finally annexed Rhode Islands and made Malta a new base.

After this he turned his attention back towards Hungary which had bitter relations with the Empire. After he had defeated Louis – II (king of Hungary who was found dead) a bitter three way struggle for throne of Hungary ensued. The Arkduke or Austria (who was wedded into the Hungarian Royal family) was the choice of some Hungarian nobles, whereas, John Zápolya a nobel man supported by the Suleyman and some nobels cited previous agreements wanted Habsburgs to take over since Louise – II had died without a heir. This finally resulted in three way partition of the Hungarian area. Suleyman continued his conquests and annexed most of present day Hungary. He later made Zápolya family members as rulers of small provinces nearby Hungary and Austria. The Arkduke of Austria, started to fight back suleyman and captured Royal Hungary. But by then Suleyman had made inroads into the eastern European politics and had made Ottoman empire presence formidable.

In an attempt to recpature Hungary Suleyman marched onto Veinna and attacked it. But Arkduke was well prepared and lost on the first and second attempt to gain control. However, he turned his attention towards the Middle East and the then Persia which saw the revolt by Shia Safavid dynasty. The Shah killed governor of Baghdad appointed by Suleyman and the other governor of Bitlis changed alliances and came to Shah. This revolt angered Suleyman and he marched into Persia with Ibrahim Pasha (his Grand Vizier). The shah instead of fighting the battle ready troops of Suleyman surrendered territory and Suleyman evetually entered Baghdad. The Commander of Baghdad surrendered giving the reins of Islamic state to Suleyman in place of the caliphs.

In all three efforts from Suleyman against the Shah sealed the fate and Ottoman Empire was enthroned into the Asia provinces firmly. The Persian Gulf was partly annexed helping the Ottoman Empire build and control the sea trade routes to Far East Asia and Indian Subcontinent.